


The Life Of An Arrogant Alchemist

by fletchphoenix



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, basically a hugo origin story, good mom donella, im a simp for him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26651674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fletchphoenix/pseuds/fletchphoenix
Summary: My interpretation of origins of Hugo! Based off Varian And The Seven Kingdoms and just various one shots to do with his life!
Relationships: Donella & Hugo (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hugo & Nuru & Varian & Yong (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hugo & Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hugo/Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	1. Beginnings

Donella hasn’t expected for any of this to happen. She hadn’t expected to suddenly be launched into a parenting position, relying on the small, leather bound book that she’d hidden behind a panel in the wall of the workshop after hours of listening to Ulla ramble about her son. She’d secretly hoped that she’d be able to take care of the boy one day, alas it wasn’t meant to be, but she kept the book regardless. Either way, she hadn’t expected any of this to just...happen on the Thursday afternoon. But let's rewind, shall we?

Walking through Pittsford was a hit or miss. One day you could be walking and it would all be fine and dandy, and the next, you could have a knife to your throat and someone demanding you give them your money. Luckily for her, it was one of the good days. No trouble going on whatsoever. Well, that’s what she thought was happening until she saw the motionless body of a scruffy blonde haired child against a wall.

A frown painted her features as she strolled over quietly, glancing down at the boy with a bloody stump for an arm. He was a mess - hair covering his face with glasses, the frame snapped where his nose was and barely sitting on it with cracks all over the thick lenses. His pale, freckled face had an assortment of cuts and bruises, a particularly gnarly one through his right eyebrow separating the hair there. The shirt he wore was far too big for him, the white fabric hanging off his scrawny frame and coated in grime, blood and mud as though he’d never washed it in his life. His feet were bare, presumably sore and throbbing with pain from having to walk on the terrible quality cobbled streets of Pittsford’s lower class area. 

The worst part however, was the significant lack of a right arm. Blood had pooled on the rocks below him, no longer dripping from the stump as apparent from the dried up puddle underneath him and on his shirt. Colour had drained from his face, well, at least Donella thought so as there was no way a kid could be that pale and it not be from blood loss. He’d need to get that wound checked out before infection set in eventually, the arm severed from below his elbow. She should’ve probably been more worried about his condition and the fact that his arm was nowhere in sight, but considering the harsh punishments for thieves that were caught in Pittsford, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to lose an arm.

She lowered herself to his level, glancing over his small figure. “What should I do?” she thought as her eyes scanned over the curled up child. She could send him to an orphanage, but then they wouldn’t get him the help he needed with his arm and the orphanages were already full as it was, unable to feed all the kids in their care. He’d most likely die there if she sent him there. She could just leave him here, but...something stopped her. Maybe it was just something stupid, but all she could think about as she stared at the child was Ulla and how she’d talk about her son all the time.

...Could she be a mother?

She pondered the thought for a moment. She’d made notes on everything Ulla would tell her about childcare, such as certain things her son loved and liked, and this kid couldn’t have been more than two years older than Ulla’s boy (Varian, was it? She couldn’t remember at this moment, more concerned about the scene in front of her). She could also make him a prosthetic if he needed it - scratch that, because he definitely needed it. Donella could take care of him if she really put her mind to it, but she wasn’t sure if she had the money to help two people. Surely she’d have to lower some wages to be able to provide for him and teach the kid how to survive out here. With a groan, she scooped the boy into her arms, him unsurprisingly light, as she carried him down the street. 

\---------------------

Blurry. Everything was blurry. 

Hugo grumbled as he pushed himself into a sitting position, only for two strong hands of a grey haired woman to push him back down. Where even was he? And who was she? How long had he been out? He glanced over to his right, a metal prosthetic greeting him and sticking out like a sore thumb against the pale skin of his shoulder. He could’ve sworn that the stall owner only severed from his elbow down, so how the hell had he lost the rest of it? 

“Good morning, kid. You’ve been out for three days since I picked you up and made your prosthetic.” the mystery woman muttered, placing his glasses in his hand. Upon closer inspection, however, they had new lenses with the middle of the frame crudely stuck together with some tape. He appreciated the effort though, carefully placing them onto his face and pushing them up his nose as he looked the woman in front of him up and down. “My name’s Donella. What’s yours.” 

“Hugo.” his voice rasped and cracked. How dehydrated even was he? A table on the left of his makeshift mattress decorated with sweet sweet water and a loaf of bread. He stared at it, his mouth watering and, when Donella gave an approving nod, he lunged forward to scoff the bread down. It had been so so long since he’d eaten something this beautiful and heavenly - in fact, he can’t even remember when he last ate something like this. He gulped down the water and swore that Donella’s stone cold expression cracked into a soft smile as he indulged himself on the treat placed so graciously in front of him. 

“Why did you do this?” Hugo whispered as he gazed at the arm, the sunlight peering through the window glinting off the metal. It looked like titanium, but that was incredibly hard to come by in these parts - or at least for him. Maybe aluminium? Or steel? Perhaps copper? Nonetheless, it was an impressive feat even though there was a slight pain in his shoulder and he couldn’t move it just yet.

“Because you’d die otherwise, either from blood loss or infection and I didn’t want that on my conscience.” She shrugged and her cold stare fixed onto him, a shiver trailing down his spine at the sight. He bet that stare could make a grown man cry if he was being honest. “How did this even happen anyway?” 

Hugo took in a sharp inhale. “I...tried to steal something from the vendor that sells mechanical parts. Look!” he declared as Olivia rolled out of his shirt pocket, the small mouse trailing onto his fleshy hand before he moved her to his shoulder, the cold metal lingering on his hand. “I wanted to make some improvements to her, but he caught me and the law said that...this was a suitable punishment.” Donella’s monotone expression shifted into a frown as she heard his story, the two in an uncomfortable silence as Olivia rolled happily on his shoulder. 

“Impressive creation.” She muttered, her face conflicted as if she was making a difficult choice. Hugo could almost hear the cogs in her brain turning. “So kid, you’re obviously smart so I’m going to give you a choice,” Donella started, shuffling to sit on the end of the mattress, her knees bending awkwardly as she sat down, the mattress directly on the floor which seemed to be made out of concrete or solid rock. “You can either get sent back to the orphanage, or you can stay here with me. You can work for your keep and to pay off the debt for your arm, with a home to come back to. Which one?” 

Hugo stopped eating for a second, his hands hesitating before he took another gulp of water. She was offering him a home. A family. A good life. He didn’t even know her and she was holding out everything he’d ever wanted as if it was nothing. Hugo searched her face for any sign of lying or false hope, picking up on nothing but genuine feelings as her eyes locked with his. “Okay.” he whispered, moving back in the bed as she rose to her feet. 

"You need a bath, kid. Just to get all that blood off of you and all." she commented to him as she started to walk out of the door and down the hall. Hugo sat in silence, playing with his hair as he waited for the woman to come back for him. She...really was here to help him wasn’t she? She wasn’t going to double cross him and leave him back in the alley, or throw him back into the orphanage where he really didn’t want to go back. She actually wanted to be there for him. Wow. That was new.

The woman - Donella - walked back in, an old, green tunic in her arms along with a jacket and some brown trousers with leather boots. “Okay kid. Here you go. It isn’t much, but it's the best I can do.” She stated as she guided him along the hall to the bathroom, which was a small room with a little wooden barrel for a bathtub. “Get washed and go to sleep, it's been a long day.” she declared as she turned around and left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Hugo alone once again. 

\-----------------------

As soon as she heard the boy leave the bathroom and his bedroom door creak shut, Donella strided down the hall to remove a panel from the wall. Inside the small alcove sat a leather notebook, already gathering dust and a pair of goggles from her former partner, Ulla. Keeping her footsteps as quiet as she could to not disturb the sleeping child in the room beside her, she made her way back to her room and sat on her bed, the object in question moaning under her sudden application of weight. 

Her fingers trailed over the cover for a millisecond longer than it should’ve, the memory of Ulla lingering, as she shook her head and opened the cover to show parchment paper with ink staining their pages. Scanning over the text, she took in as much information as she could, the page illuminated by the small candle lit beside her bed. Scrawled across the pages were notes on Ulla’s parenting techniques for her little boy. She’d made them in hopes she’d at least see the boy and be able to look after him at one point, but that was a wish of the past. The pair had long since separated after the whole...library incident. Her hand drifted upwards to trace the scar trailing over her chin before she shook the thought away and continued to read.

Hours later, she finally set the book aside and let herself fall back amongst the pillows, the sound of snoring from Hugo loud enough to carry itself down the hall. A smile slowly fought its way onto his face, before she shut it down immediately and covered her face. God, she already cared too much about this kid. Oh well, she could look after him. 


	2. October 27th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugo does a little job for Donella on his birthday

Snow crunched under his feet, not very unusual weather for the fall in Pittsford, and his heels clicked against the cobbles as he made his way down the blackened alleyway, the only other sound accompanying it being the soft humming passing through his lips accompanied by little clouds of breath. Tightening the emerald scarf around his neck, he continued his descent into the cold winter’s night. At least he wouldn’t have to be out long for this job - Donella made it very clear that it was one of her associates and would go off without a hitch.

Yeah, as if.

Every time she claimed it was a ‘quick job’, it always ended up in a shoot out or at the very least someone dead on the floor of Pittsford. That's why it was always him sent out for her dirty work and, predictably, it was him once again to go and negotiate with some hot-shot crime boss for some firearm. Needless to say this is exactly what he wanted to be doing on his birthday. TOTALLY not sitting by a nice, warm fire in his admittedly tiny room with Olivia sitting on his shoulder. Not at all.

He knew he had a job to do for her to earn his place there, but sending a newly 19-year-old to go and perform a shady business deal in the back alley of the most dangerous of the seven kingdoms? Well, maybe second-most-dangerous considering how fucked up Corona seemed. After all, everyone had heard of the 14-year-old that went batshit insane and kidnapped the queen along with trying to kill the princess. Must’ve been one hell of a 14-year-old to take out most, if not all, of the Royal Guards like the rumour said. Even after that, the Saporians took over while the princess went on a road trip and then the handmaiden stole the legendary moonstone! Like, how dysfunctional does a kingdom have to be for all this to happen in less than 3 years? It was almost unbelievable if Hugo hadn’t been on duty and seen the black rocks growing in the forest, allegedly a product of the moonstone. However, now was no time to think about this. 

He had work to do.

As he continued, a rotting oak door resided to his left. A matching sign perched above it, the metal holding it up rusted and almost covered by a layer of snow. Hugo pushed his glasses up his nose, his eyes squinting to make out the lettering before comparing it to the parchment in his hand. Yep, this was definitely the place, though he really did struggle to see it through the large crack on his glasses’ lens. He took a deep breath, his hand hovering over the concealed pocket of his jacket to be sure the dagger Donella gave him was still there. Thankfully it was, and so with one additional deep breath, he pushed open the door.

Immediately, knives were drawn on him.

Raising his hands with a smug grin, he let out a little chuckle. “Woah, woah gentlemen. Calm down. No need to get aggressive.” Hugo commented as he pushed his glasses up his nose and headed to sit down. “Donella sent me for business. Pleasure to meet ya. The name’s Hugo, don’t wear it out.” 

The room they were in was nothing less that disgusting, the scent of decay and rot surrounding him as he tried not to throw up. Freezing winds barged their way into the room, only the candles trapped in lanterns still flickering and providing some semblance of warmth. The chair he was perched on moaned under his weight, Hugo being sure it would break and drop him onto the damp floor. He sighed softly and leant back. He just wanted to go back to the hideout and not be here.

“Yeah well, we said we wanted her to come here in person, not one of her lil’ servants.” The other man chuckled and leant back against one of the gross, wooden walls, Hugo grimacing at the sight. “So thanks but no, we want ya boss, pretty boy.” 

Looking the man up and down, Hugo examined the situation. He couldn’t take him - four more men now visible in the background and CLEARLY more muscular than him. All he wanted was a quick job. A quick, simple job where he could relax afterwards and just go to sleep. Was it really too much to ask?

“No can do, boss man. She’s got shit to do and so do I later so..we’re kinda on a time crunch.” Hugo declared, looping one leg over his other and settling his hands on the table. He linked his fingers together and pressed them to his lips gently with a soft smile playing on his lips. “Now, shall we get to it?”

“We made our instructions clear and she didn’t show, so no. Run off to your owner, you fuckin’ mutt.” The man sneered, his goons chuckling at the insult directed to the blonde. Hugo, however, rolled his eyes and resumed his original position with his arms folded and leaning back in the chair. Wow, they really were shit, weren’t they?

“Ha ha very funny.” His eyes rolled, not a stranger to the bitter insult, as he subtly slid his hand into his jacket and wrapped his hand around the handle, trailing a finger slightly down the blade. A soft sigh left his lips as he rose to his feet. “Look, I didn’t want it to come to this, but oh well.” He lamented, swiftly pulling out his knife and throwing it into the man’s shoulder. Lunging forward, he grabbed what he came for off the table he’d been sat at, taking a bullet to the shoulder courtesy of one of the goons, and swiftly turned on his heel, ignoring the intense pain.

And then he started running. 

He sprinted away, yells and thudding footsteps of the men accompanying their boss chasing him in a twisted symphony. His legs ached as he ran, heaving and struggling to get air into his lungs as he gripped his bleeding shoulder, the blood loss creating a dizzy sensation as he struggled to hold the package in his arms.

He knew that the package contained the weapons that they’d used to wound him - Donella had made a batch, only for them to be stolen, and for her to then request Hugo to get them back for her. In all fairness, she’d probably say the injury was worth the contents of the cargo, it being worth ‘more than his life’ and he should be ‘grateful’ to still live there with her, Cyrus and the gang. That, however, didn’t change the fact he was dripping blood onto the floor, blending in with the snow that decorated the floor and staining it red. 

Eventually, he lost the trail of the goons and entered Donella’s base. A sigh left his lips as he leant back against the door, Cyrus walking over and removing the package before sitting him down. “Take it off.” He gestured to his jacket and scarf, Hugo obliging and slipping down the side of his shirt to reveal the bullet wound to the larger man. “Luckily it’s gone through.” Cyrus muttered, picking up the medical kit and beginning to stop the bleeding and stitch up the wound marking his shoulder.

“I got the package for ya.” Hugo muttered, groaning in pain and, with his free hand, letting his hair out of the ponytail it was in. “Took a lotta work. Had to shake the trail of at least four of these big guys. Almost as big as you, yknow?” he chuckled, letting out a long groan as Cyrus put a stitch in a particular place. 

“Sorry.” Cyrus grunted, finishing up before the room went silent. There, in the doorway, stood the woman herself, a frown playing on her lips as she strode over and picked up the package. Glancing at Hugo, she gave an approving nod to him.

“Nice job out there, kid.” She muttered, her hand resting on his injured shoulder before removing it at the sound of his discomfort. “I’ve set up a fire in your room for you if you want it.” Hugo sighed and nodded weakly, rising to his feet and grumbling at the pain in his shoulder from the bullet wound earlier. Still, he swallowed his pain and travelled down the hall. “Oh. And this.” She began, pushing an emerald case into his hands. “You have a job soon in Koto, so begin heading there tomorrow. Thought this would help you.” Donella walked off down the hall, the door to her study shutting and the sound echoing throughout the small base. 

As soon as he got to his room, Hugo sat beside the fire and let Olivia out of her confines in his pocket. Slowly, he opened the box and smiled softly at the sight of new glasses, their lenses shining under the light of the fire. They were the perfect make and size - Donella remembering the exact frames that he liked. He removed the old pair, placing the new ones on his nose and pushing them up to the bridge with a smile before leaning back with a smile despite the throbbing pain in his shoulder. 

Maybe his birthday wasn’t so bad.


	3. Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugo goes on a little mission

Hugo groaned as Olivia rolled on the pillow beside his head, pushing the mechanical rodent away before immediately groaning in pain at the throbbing feeling in his shoulder. The hell was that? Oh. Yeah. Bullet wound. Mumbling, he pushed himself into a sitting position and flexed the metallic fingers of his prosthetic arm, glancing down at it and frowning at the reminder of his past.

He’d only just left the orphanage in town, not wanting to stay there and rot after he’d been tossed back and forth between orphanages and foster homes and just being abandoned each time by people. In his defence, he’d been needing parts to fix Olivia and the guy at the stall had his back turned - he really thought it would be an easy steal. Just get what he needed and go to his alley and fix Olivia.

But of course life was never that simple for Hugo, was it?

The guy had caught him, grabbing his arm and slicing it clean off until it was nothing but a bloody stump that cut off at his elbow. He was just a kid too - only just turned ten when the incident had happened, though that was the day he’d met Donella and been taken in by her. She’d done a lot for him, creating the prosthetic and training him in self defence, though it didn’t change or erase the memories that he was haunted with.

Hugo sighed softly, his hand sliding over his bedside table and picking up a few spheres full of alchemical compounds. After obtaining the spheres, he pressed a little button on the side of his prosthetic, a section popping up before he slid them into it and pressed it down gently to secure them in their hiding place. 

Rising to his feet, Hugo changed into his clothes and stretched out, grumbling in pain as he, once again, hurt his shoulder. He pushed his glasses up his nose and reached out to take his hair tie, tying his hair back into a ponytail and heading towards the door. 

Donella had said there was a mission for him, though he really wasn’t sure what she wanted. Hopefully it was just a short mission.

\--------------------

It was not a short mission.

After an extensive explanation on her previous studies, which Hugo had almost fallen asleep in the middle of, she revealed where he was headed. Koto, aka one of his least favourite places to be, only topped by Ingvarr and the security there. Damn, Koto was terrible, and now Donella had doomed him to go there and make sure this..random child didn’t try to steal some ‘ancient totem’ because her ‘livelihood and career depended on it’. 

He sat on a roof silently, watching as the two boys weaved through people in a crowd towards a rather large lion statue, the smaller of the two babbling and seemingly annoying the taller one. Hugo’s head tilted slightly as he examined the taller boy, leaning forward slightly with a satisfied grin. He was kinda cute if he was being honest, the way he was trying to calm down the younger boy mesmerising Hugo in a way that he couldn’t describe. Hugo could tell from afar that he had buck teeth as well, a smile creeping its way onto Hugo’s face as he watched him awkwardly smile and talk to different stall owners. He genuinely looked happy to be there.

So naive.

The smaller boy beside him seemed very overexcited, pretty much jumping like a puppy and wondering at his side. If he didn’t know any better, he’d assume the pair were mentor and mentee, not just some people who met on a farm out of desperation. Hugo silently watched as they turned a corner and went out of sight, obscured by one of the red, paper lanterns that hung from rope across the city. 

“Shit. Well Olivia, looks like we’ve gotta scavenge, sweetheart.” Hugo sighed, exasperated as he carefully made his way down from the roof and shifted in between bodies stuck in a crowd, Olivia squeaking from her place in his pocket. He felt like he’d travelled through endless crowds trying to track down the pair, though he couldn’t find them whatsoever. Curse his targets being small. A groan left his lips as he moved to the sidelines, a hand running through his fringe. Why did he even say yes to this job in the first place? He could’ve just said-

“Okay I think the entrance is here.” A voice echoed down an alleyway, Hugo slipping into it and positioning himself behind a wall as he watched the two younger boys press a few buttons and head down a staircase hidden underneath the statue. His job just got a whole lot easier, the blonde sneaking over after a few minutes and heading down the staircase. 

This was about to be the easiest job in his life.

\-------------------------

Hugo easily stepped through the trials, the two boys providing him a clear path to his goal. It was almost heavenly, being able to do what Donella wanted so easily. His eyes studied the room he was in as he strolled through it, ears trained to listen out for any traps that might be situated in the room.

The space itself was..rather pretty. Red pillars rose to the equally red ceiling of the cavern, seemingly carved out from the earth itself, which was plausible considering how far down he was under the ground. Emerald dragons curled up the dragons, with golden details at the top and on the walls surrounding him. He smiled smugly as he strutted past them, his hand wrapping around it.

“Hey! That belongs to us!” The same voice from earlier exclaimed, Hugo turning his head to meet the blue eyes of the pretty boy from earlier, the grin on his face widening. This day couldn’t get any better - upon a closer inspection of the teen’s face, he could see all the little freckles that decorated it and made tiny constellations across his cheeks. 

“Yeah, we earned it!” the shorter boy complained, Hugo paying him no mind as he lifted the totem to his face and studied it. There was an abundance of little intricate details that decorated the totem, notably a little fire symbol in the centre and a slight reddish tint to the wood and overall design of the totem.

“Huh, weird. Cause I’m sort of the one who’s holding it...so I feel like that sort of means that it belongs to me-” He began before being rudely interrupted by the pretty boy, his wooden staff pointed out at the blonde as his face twisted into an expression of anger and resentment towards the man. It wasn’t a good look on him.

“No way! We completed the trial, not you! Whoever you are..Hand over the totem!” he yelled as the smaller boy fished into his pocket to point a red tube over at Hugo. So they wanted to do this the hard way, huh? Well, that sucked. He really wanted the pretty boy to be less confrontational, but when does anything in his life go right at this point?

“I like your magic wand. S’pretty!” He declared simply before glancing over at the smaller child with a smile. “Ooh! And some fireworks! How fun! But, you two are adorable,” He shot a wink to the taller of the pair, smirking at his discomfort in pleasure, “but I’m on a schedule, so..” And with that, he raised his prosthetic, ejecting a sulfur-infused stink bomb from its chamber in his arm and rushing away under the blue smoke as the two boys coughed and wheezed.

\----------------

“You shoulda seen their faces, Cyrus! It was hilarious!” He laughed as the stronger, stoic man ushered him towards his boss’ tent. “Geez, couldn’t ya be a bit softer on a poor little orphan boy?” Hugo complained, Cyrus rolling his eyes and resorting to (quite literally) shoving the boy through the entrance and straight into his boss. “Hey Don. Got your glorified wood.”   
  


“What took you so long? I thought I said it was a fast assignment.” Donella, as optimistic as ever, picked up the totem and examined it closely, something resembling a smile taking its place on her face before she glanced at the blonde again. “I’m waiting.”

“Oh yeah.” Hugo began, folding his arms and stretching. “Well, there were these two kids who were doing the weird little tasks in the room. One of ‘em was a tiny kid. Seemed local to the area and acted like a dog. And there was one with this long ass staff, a book and a blue streak in his hair.” His boss’ head shot up at that, her breath hitching for just a moment, though it was almost unnoticeable because of the noise outside the tent from her henchmen. “Ma’am?”

“Ulla’s boy.” She whispered under her breath as a hand raised to thread through her hair, Hugo’s eyebrow raising in confusion at the sudden change in atmosphere, before his boss raised her head with a smug expression.

“You’ve had a change in assignment. I want you to become...acquainted with those boys and finish the trials with them. Then, when you’re done, report back to me with all the totems. I’ll be willing to give you a generous raise in pay when you’re through. Enough to get you to the higher tiers of Pittsford. So. What do you say?” She grinned before pausing. “Hugo.” 

Hugo stood in silence for a second as he raised his eyebrow at Donella skeptically. She was offering all he ever wanted. A home in the higher tiers of Pittsford, money, a life of luxury, and judging by the look in her eyes, she was being one hundred percent serious. But could he risk being away for that long with kids who have the potential to figure out he’s lying to them? “You aren’t kidding are you?” He saw a nod from his peripheral vision and a sigh passed through his lips. “See ya later then, boss. Don’t miss me too much.” He muttered as he left the tent, totem in hand and bag swung over his shoulder. Brilliant. Now he had to convince these kids that they could trust him.

It didn’t take him long to find the pair wandering through the forest aimlessly, carefully slipping in behind them. “Hey.” He began, a puff of smoke in his face as some kind of vial was thrown to the floor and a cloud of smoke filled his vision. He coughed and tried to move, glancing down at his feet. Some kind of pink goo kept him stationary as the pretty boy paced around him and looked him up and down. “Like what you see?” he chuckled at the flush on the boy’s face before the staff was raised to press against his throat. “Relax, goggles. I haven’t got any traps on me. Just wanted to return this with a proposal.”

Hugo reached into his bag to present the totem, the raven haired boy immediately trying to swipe for it before Hugo raised it above his head. “Ah ah ah! Patience. Me and the totem are a package deal. Let me come with you and get the rest of the totems.”

The trio stood in silence for a second before the taller boy spoke up. “Why should we trust you? And why the sudden change in heart?” He questioned, an eyebrow raised and lowering the staff a little, the wood now knocking against Hugo’s orange-tinted glasses that hung around his neck. Good. He was letting his guard down.

“Because i’m devilishly handsome, and I saw you two little helpless children and decided that I couldn’t leave two kids to suffer through such...strenuous trials.” Hugo glanced up to see two unimpressed faces staring back at him, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I felt bad and thought you needed someone to stop you from getting robbed. Oh, and the name’s Hugo. Don’t wear it out.”

The two boys locked eyes, silently debating for a few seconds, before finally the older relented and sprinkled a solution over the goo that covered the blonde’s feet. “I’m Varian.” He stated as he stood back up, “And the small one is Yong. Try anything and we’re taking the totems and leaving you in the nearest kingdom, is that clear?”

“Crystal.” Hugo replied as he began to walk forward. “Cmon then! We have some totems to collect!” he declared, a grin on his face at the sheer stupidity of the two teens and how easy this mission was gonna be.

His dream was finally coming true.


End file.
